"Your eyes, O Lord, see in one glance the inexhaustible love of God and seemingly endless agony of all people who have lost faith and are like sheep without a shepherd... Lord, let me see what you see- the love of God and the suffering of people- so that my eyes may become more and more like yours, eyes that can heal wounded hearts." Ken Gire

So I've dubbed myself the official photographer of the 2008 CHAT internship (Bacon-get your battery! I need some help.) I've posted a ton of pictures on facebook, but for those of you who don't have an account, you can click on these links below to see some of what we've been doing this summer. You might have to copy and paste (not sure if it will automatically make it a hyperlink or not). I don't have that many pictures from the beginning (didn't want to scare people with my big camera) but I'm making up for lost time now. 

This internship has been challenging for me, as for the first time, I have seen poverty and its effects up close. Moving between Church Hill and the affluent West End where we take the kids for youth group and church, and where I go to school the rest of the eyar, has made me see the painfully obvious inequalities of our society and country with new eyes. I've come to realize that when I think of how God has been good in my life I think of things like how He has provided me with a stable Christian family, a good education, opportunities to travel to many parts of the globe, and the typical trappings of middle class suburia- piano lessons, yearly vacations, etc. When I see these kids from CHAT, who for the most part have had none of those things, I am forced to make a choice: either God has not been good to them, or my definition of God's goodness is way too small.

I have cause to celebrate for two reasons (well, much more than two reasons, but these are two big ones): VBS is over and all the forms for SB2dub camp have been mailed in. The past week has consisted of picking up kids for VBS, teaching VBS, getting them all home, and then going door to door collecting forms, hunting down parents and health cards all over the city. I am absolutely exhausted, but it's been a good week. The A-Team (Aaron Thomeer, Alecia and I) have had some good bonding, the kids loved VBS (they would fight on the way over who would be the last one dropped off-why they wanted to stay on the hot bus longer, I don't know!) and we learned a lot of ridiculous songs, complete with hand motions. I've gotten to know my way around Richmond much better, courtesy of getting hopelessly lost several times.

This week was our first week working with the high school street leaders- the six students who have been paired with college interns to be assisted in their money-making ventures. There are nine college interns, so three of us (Alecia, Aaron Thomeer, and myself) are kind of "floaters." We cook breakfast and lunch three days a week for the other interns and street leaders, and are basically there for whatever random needs pop up. So far we've passed out forms for summer camp, helped a family move, supervised a weekday activity for the younger children, continued to nail details for VBS next week, practiced for worship on Sunday, and held a cooking class for seven children Thursday night. Every day brings something new. Tomorrow we're going to help paint a couple's house who are moving into the neighborhood soon. I love to cook and work in the kitchen, so I've really enjoyed being able to help in those behind-the-scenes kind of ways.

I can't believe that two weeks have already gone by. Even though the children have been in school up until this past Thursday, we've still had a full slate of activities- a weekend camping trip, tutoring, cooking class, meetings with the leaders of different organizations we'll be partnering with this summer, as well as just getting to know the other interns and our way around Church Hill. Today we took them to a festival down at the river where they waded in the water and  all got free bicycle helmets, stuff for their dogs, and frisbees. It's been tiring, but really fun as well. 

I arrived in Churchhill late Saturday night and spent most of Sunday at church, unpacking, or going grocery shopping (this was the first time I had ever bought groceries for myself!). Today (Monday) the internship officially starts. We have our first meeting with all the other interns and Murray, the college intern coordinator. We will have two weeks of planning before